School Officials Uncover Cheating On State Test

18-Month Probe Revealed Test Tampering

A Baltimore elementary school principal's professional license has been revoked after officials found widespread cheating on state tests at her school.

Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andres Alonso and State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said the test tampering occurred in 2008 at George Washington Elementary School.

The 18-month investigation included a review of hundreds of test booklets that revealed a "pattern of erasures changing incorrect answers to correct," according to a release from the city school system. The tests were taken by students in grades 3, 4 and 5.

"We decided that the only factual way to begin to draw some conclusions was to recall all of the test booklets and to examine all of the responses," Grasmick said.

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The district said the probe was triggered by the dramatic shift in test results from 2004, when reading scores were at 47.6 percent and math scores were at 67.9, to 2007, when reading scores soared to 100 percent and math scores went up to 98.9 percent.

"I am sad because in this case, the adult(s) involved clearly did not believe in our kids," he said. "And I am angry because too many people are working too hard to move our students forward, and this is an affront to that incredibly hard work."

Grasmick said cheating of this magnitude is relatively rare.

In 2007, the school received the National Blue Ribbon, an award for schools that have made extraordinary progress with children from low-income families or maintained excellence for years.

School officials said they began the probe after a decline in enrollment, questionable scores and a series of complaints from parent Vicki Harding.

"The red flag was raised for me when, being a parent who participated in all of the meetings, I was not invited to this one particular meeting where the benchmark scores were given out," Harding said.

Harding said those in charge knew during the entire investigation what was taking place.

"The School Board commissioners knew. Nancy Grasmick knew. I reached out to politicians such as Gov. O'Malley. I sent certified letters, and it all fell on deaf ears," she said.

In a letter sent to parents on Thursday, Alonso said, "Tampering with tests is a violation of the trust that undergirds the progress we as a school system are making. And what happened at George Washington is an unacceptable throwback to a time when conventional wisdom was that our kids could not succeed. Our kids deserve much better."

The investigation resulted in the principal, Susan Burgess, losing her professional license, even though she retired in the spring, and officials said they're still not sure who did the tampering.

"Whether the principal knows about it is irrelevant, because there should be the presumption that the school leader is responsible," Alonso said.

Union leaders said that even so, Burgess shouldn't take the fall.

"My main concern is that the certification was taken away from the principal. The principal retired and walked away from the Baltimore city school system, and as far as I'm concerned, as the president of this union, leave the principal alone. She's gone," said Jimmy Gittings, the head of the city Administrators Union.

Officials didn't say if anyone other than the principal was disciplined.

Despite the scandal, student tests scores remain high at George Washington.

City school officials said they investigate between 10 and 15 test cheating complaints a year.